NO20170555A1

NO20170555A1 - Sensor system and method for continuous and wireless monitoring and analysis of temperature in organisms

Info

Publication number: NO20170555A1
Application number: NO20170555A
Authority: NO
Inventors: Kjetil Meisal
Original assignee: Cura8 As
Priority date: 2017-04-04
Filing date: 2017-04-04
Publication date: 2018-10-05

Abstract

A system and method for continuous readout is provided. The object of the invention is achieved by a contact surface for attaching to a surface of an organism, a sensor in thermal contact with the contact surface, a RFID chip operatively connected to the sensor, wherein the RFID chip will respond to an induced signal from a reader by reading data from the sensor and transmit said data, and method for operating the sensor wherein the data from the sensor is compensated for environmental effects using comprising a second sensor for detecting at least one property from the group comprising ambient temperature, pressure, flow, level, proximity, displacement, bio, image, gas, chemical, acceleration, orientation, humidity, moisture, force and mass, thus forming compensated data.A system and method for continuous readout is provided. The object of the invention is achieved by a contact surface for attachment to a surface of an organism, a sensor in thermal contact with the contact surface, an RFID chip operatively connected to the sensor, the RFID chip will respond to an induced signal from a reader by reading data from the sensor and transmit said data, and method for operating the sensor while the data from the sensor is compensated for environmental effects using a second sensor for detecting at least one property from the group comprising ambient temperature, pressure, flow, level, proximity, displacement, bio, image, gas, chemical, acceleration, orientation, humidity, moisture, force and mass, thus forming compensated data.

Description

ΤITLΕ: SENSOR SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CONTINUOUS AND WIRELESS MONITORING AND ANALYSIS OF TEMPERATURE IN ORGANISMS

Background of the Invention

Field of the Invention

The invention relates to a measurement system in general and more specifically a system and a method for measuring and analysing the core temperature of an organism.

Background Art

State of the art is reflected in tympanic (in ear), oral or rectal measurements, and temporal artery infrared sensing. The problem is that these methods require bulky apparatuses, handling by adults and are not suited for continuous manually unsupervised monitoring.

From prior art one should refer to traditional thermometers.

There is therefore a need for a method and a system to overcome the above mentioned problems.

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

Therefore, a main object of the present invention is to provide a system and method for continuous measurement and analysis of the core temperature of an organism.

Means for Solving the Problems

The object is achieved according to the invention by a wireless sensor system for continuous readout as defined in the preamble of claim 1 , having the features of the characterising portion of claim 1 , and a method for operating a sensor as defined in the preamble of claim 10, having the features of the characterising portion of claim A number of non-exhaustive embodiments, variants or alternatives of the invention are defined by the dependent claims.

The present invention attains the above-described object by a contact surface for attaching to a surface of an organism, a sensor in thermal contact with the contact surface, a RFID chip operatively connected to the sensor, wherein the RFID chip will respond to an induced signal from a reader by reading data from the sensor and transmit said data.

In a first aspect of the invention a wireless sensor system for continuous readout is provided, comprising a contact surface for attaching to a surface of an organism, a sensor in thermal contact with the contact surface, a RFID chip operatively connected to the sensor, wherein the RFID chip will respond to an induced signal from a reader by reading data from the sensor and transmit said data.

Preferably the system in encapsulated in a resilient material while the contact surface is exposed.

Preferably the contact surface is coated with an adhesive layer.

More preferably the system further comprises an antenna located on a side separated from and substantially opposite to the contact surface using a resilient material, wherein the distance between the antenna and the contact surface provides an antenna gain.

More preferably the system further comprises an antenna, comprising a radiating element located on a side separated from and substantially opposite to a metallic reflector, which is spaced apart by a material, where the dimension of the material defines the space between the radiating element and the reflector and the antenna gain by the electromagnetic properties of such spacing material and the radiating efficiency of the radiating element.

Preferably the system further comprises a second sensor for detecting at least one property from the group comprising temperature, pressure, flow, level, proximity, displacement, bio, image, gas, chemical, acceleration, orientation, humidity, moisture, force and mass.

More preferably the system further comprises 2 or more of the same sensor.

More preferably the sensors work together to detect Doppler information and differences in sensor data between the sensors.

More preferably the system further comprises a positional detector.

In a second aspect of the invention a method for operating a sensor is provided, wherein the data from the sensor is compensated for environmental effects using comprising a second sensor for detecting at least one property from the group comprising temperature, pressure, flow, level, proximity, displacement, bio, image, gas, chemical, acceleration, orientation, humidity, moisture, force and mass, thus forming compensated data.

Preferably an alarm is raised when the compensated data from the sensor is outside a predefined range.

Preferably an alarm is raised when the data from the second sensor is outside a predefined range.

A sensor system and method for continuous and wireless monitoring and analysis of temperature in organisms, such system comprises of a passive wireless sensor system integrated as a flexible adhesive bandage, which is placed on the surface or skin of an organism. A wireless reader capable of reading sensor data using a UHF RFID EPC GEN2 or similar global protocols, or several protocols in combination, in addition to e.g. sensing ambient conditions, and transmitting such data to an ecosystem which can be implemented as a e.g. network cloud solution, and said ecosystem with methods and signal processing for presenting simplified quantifiable data to an end user device and enabling individual adjustable notifications based on such data, access to history of data as well as a big data access platform to such ecosystem, with methods for analysis which can be used for location, tracking and new insight in information on temperature in organisms and trends, one of these uses can be monitoring increased temperature “fever” in an organism, e.g. a human caused by e.g. infections. Combining user provided information on the organism, and its geolocation, which e.g. can be derived from the user device, for additional analyses can have one example of tracking geo located infection patterns through such ecosystem. One example can be tracking infections in humans, and spread of infection in the society using geolocation and the characteristics of the febrile response over time, which can map to known fever patterns and known infections. Such use would be of great value to health care authorities and medical research and can contribute greatly to the knowledge on registered and unregistered illness in the society with respect to; infection source tracking, infection spread tracking and generally increased knowledge on registered and unregistered illness causing febrile responses. As an example, such device can be used in both developed and undeveloped parts of the world to improve knowledge, countermeasures and aid in both epidemic and non-epidemic outbreaks.

Effects of the Invention

The technical differences over prior art is that it is possible to wear the sensor system continuously.

These effects provide in turn several further advantageous effects:

it makes it possible to monitor an organism continuously

it makes it possible to use the measurement system continuously and without supervision

it allows for valid reading also in the presence if varying ambient temperature, moisture and even when covered.

it allows for a wireless and passive sensor integration at low cost, which enable consumable fever sensors limiting infection risks with re use.

it allows for fewer patterns to be used as an indication to identify infectious and non-infectious decease in organisms.

it allows for temperature alerts on e.g. high and low temperatures and without supervision.

Brief Description of the Drawings

The above and further features of the invention are set forth with particularity in the appended claims and together with advantages thereof will become clearer from consideration of the following detailed description of an [exemplary] embodiment of the invention given with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The invention will be further described below in connection with exemplary embodiments which are schematically shown in the drawings, wherein:

Fig. 1 shows the whole system comprising sensor implementation, reader, ecosystem and user device.

Fig. 2 shows the sensor implementation with antenna, RFID chip, sensor and thermal conductor.

Fig. 3 shows the sensor implementation with antenna, RFID chip with internal sensor, external sensor, thermal insulator and thermal conductor for Doppler measurement mode.

Fig. 4 shows the sensor implementation and examples of shapes and the space between thermal conductor and adhesive.

Fig. 5 shows the thermal conducting layer connected to the sensor, and the connection to the antennas and insulating layer surrounding the sensor

Fig. 6 shows the antenna part of the sensor implementation, with the spacing material and metal reflector.

Fig. 7 shows the sensor implementation build-up and parts for Doppler mode measurement.

Fig. 8 shows the basic folding of substrate with RFID chip and external sensor mounted around the insulator material for Doppler mode measurements.

Fig. 9 shows concepts and parts for Doppler mode temperature measurement and reference to core temperature.

Fig. 10 shows the reader and its antennas, RFID chip, processing chip, sensors, interfaces, storage and airflow design.

Fig. 11 show essential parts of the ecosystem with interfaces, signal processing algorithms, processing and the different storage systems.

Fig. 12 shows the user device in the system, and the storage unit of such device.

Description of the Reference Signs

The following reference numbers and signs refer to the drawings:

Detailed Description of the Invention

Various aspects of the disclosure are described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings. This disclosure may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to any specific structure or function presented throughout this disclosure. Rather, these aspects are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the disclosure to those skilled in the art. Based on the teachings herein one skilled in the art should appreciate that the scope of the disclosure is intended to cover any aspect of the disclosure disclosed herein, whether implemented independently of or combined with any other aspect of the disclosure. For example, an apparatus may be implemented or a method may be practiced using any number of the aspects set forth herein. In addition, the scope of the disclosure is intended to cover such an apparatus or method which is practiced using other structure, functionality, or structure and functionality in addition to or other than the various aspects of the disclosure set forth herein. It should be understood that any aspect of the disclosure disclosed herein may be embodied by one or more elements of a claim.

The invention will be further described in connection with exemplary embodiments which are schematically shown in the drawings.

For the apparatus presented in Fig. 1 being an e.g. fever monitoring system intended for home use and especially children, the alternatives that exist and are mostly used today are Tympanic (in ear), oral or rectal measurements, and temporal artery infrared sensing. By children most of these are considered uncomfortable e.g. in ear, oral or rectal measurements, and they are not continuous. The most comfortable approach existing is the temporal artery infrared sensing approach, however this does not allow continuous measurements. A few Bluetooth based devices allowing continuous measurements has emerged, however these comprise batteries and some electronics, which will make the total cost of ownership for a consumer to high for widespread use. The fact that these devices are based on Bluetooth, makes them less user friendly, as it limits the user device to be within range of the sensor, which can be a challenge in environments with building materials like reinforced concrete. Resulting in the user and its device needing to stay in the same room as the sensor in order to get continuous data and alarms. RFID technology has existed for years and are in most approaches designed for low cost consumables, where the use is best known from logistics operations and security applications in some form, where you have a reader infrastructure reading large volumes of tags.

Principles forming the basis of the invention

The underlying principle is that a wearable sensor can be used for continuous monitoring by integrating a sensor with passive RFID into a low cost passive sensor system, in a flexible packaging with an adhesive for attachment to an organism. In use the sensor can be continuously read by a reader and thus allows for practical low cost and continuous use, enabling a broad area of use and more substantial amount of sensor data from areas where continuous data on a big scale has never been available.

Best Modes of Carrying Out the Invention

The embodiment of the apparatus according to the invention shown in Fig. 1 comprises a flexible sensor implementation 100, a RFID reader 200 that reads sensor data and stores it in a ecosystem 300 comprising data processing and presentation formatting, and presents the data to a user through a user device 400, which can be an application on a cellular phone. Such system described can be a temperature sensor implementation 100, where the system is designed to measure surface temperature on the forehead of a human being, for instance a child, and calculate the core temperature in the ecosystem and present this in a continuous manner to e.g. parents or alternative caretakers, and serve as an apparatus for continuous fever monitoring to provide continuous information on the development, trend, and severity of such fever development. When a medical physician is contacted due to an illness causing a febrile response, such data can be presented and analysed to aid the medical physician in a diagnosis process. Such a system would be available to a consumer through e.g. online stores, pharmacies, or a local supermarket, where the consumer would expect to find fever monitoring equipment. Available product bundles could be a reader together with several sensors, and bundles of several sensors with e.g. different print on. Such an apparatus would not only improve fever monitoring and care for sick children, bringing peace of mind to both the child and parent. It could also be a new unexplored area for research on illness causing febrile response in humans, as such scale of data on febrile development does not exist today. Most available continuous fever data today are from monitoring on sick patients in a hospital. With that in mind monitoring spread of illness in the society could have a great socioeconomic value, through preventing large outbreaks in an early stage.

The system presented in Fig. 1 is designed for continuous, wireless monitoring and analysis of temperature in organisms, e.g. humans and animals. This system comprises of a flexible sensor implementation 170 e.g. like an adhesive bandage, shaped in any way, e.g. circular or oval 170, that can sense the temperature and wirelessly transmit it, a reader 200 that can wirelessly receive the transmission from the sensor implementation 100, add ambient sensor information like e.g. temperature and humidity, and send this to a ecosystem 300, which can be implemented in e.g. a network cloud solution. This ecosystem implementation will have methods for quantifying data and in real-time send data to the end user. The end user will interface the system through a device 400, e.g. through an app on a device like a smart phone or a web interface through any computer. The reader 200 can also as a backup solution when there is no connection to the ecosystem, transfer the data directly to the device using a wireless technology like e.g.

Bluetooth, where an example can be the app on the user’s device, which also have methods for quantifying the data in real time and presenting it to the user, receives and processes the data. In the backup scenario, the data is stored in the data storage unit of the device for later syncing with the ecosystem. If the reader during shorter periods loses connection with the ecosystem or device in backup mode, it has the means through internal storage to store data until connection with the ecosystem or device in backup mode is working again.

The sensor implementation 100 is the key to the system and is built as a multi-layer structure to combine properties of long range communication and optimized temperature sensing conditions. This can be achieved in several ways, where two approaches can be e.g. a single sensor approach as illustrated in Fig. 2, 5 and 6, or a dual sensor approach using temperature Doppler measurement 500 as illustrated in Fig. 3, 7, 8 and 9. The sensor implementation 100 comprises an antenna 130, a RFID chip 110 which could comprise both an integrated temperature sensing functionality 114, and an RFID part 112, including a possible interface to e.g. power and communication with external sensors 104, which can be a temperature sensor. A Thermal conductive layer 120, a thermally insulating layer 160, and a print layer 140.

The antenna 130 is designed in such a way that it is not affected by the absorption of the radiated energy caused by the properties of e.g. the skin and human body. Such feature is obtained by designing the antenna in a way typical for RFID tags placed on metal surfaces, where there is a major problem with the change in antenna match due to the metal surface. On metal surfaces, if the antenna radiating element 134 is elevated at a certain distance above the metal surface and the spacing material 136 or 122, between has known electromagnetic properties, effects changing the antenna match can be coped with. The antenna described in this system will not be placed on metal, hence the metal need to be a property of the antenna implemented as a thin metal sheet 138 at the lower layer close to the absorbing material it is placed on, e.g. human skin, such that the antenna operates as a typical antenna designed for and used on metallic surfaces, hence making the antenna 130 immune to which material it is placed on.

The Thermally conductive layer 120 in the sensor implementation is located on the lowest layer in the sensor implementation, enabling direct and good thermal contact with the surface, e.g. human skin the sensor implementation 100 is placed on. The thermal conductor 120 can be placed in a cut out area 155 of the adhesive layer 150 and cut out area 139 of the metallic reflector 138, with a space / gap 125 which can be designed in between the thermally conductive layer 120 and the lower metallic layer / metallic reflector 138 of the antenna design 130 in order to avoid a good thermal connection and electrical connection between 120 and 138, avoiding lateral heat loss or heat transfer to 138, and reducing ESD challenges for the RFID chip 110 and external sensor 104 and 106. The thermally conductive layer 120 will be in direct contact with the measured medium, and the RFID chip 110 with the integrated sensor 114 and external sensor 104 in single sensor mode, and the external sensor 106 in Doppler temperature sensing mode, is thermally connected to this layer 120 using a thermally conductive glue or similar compound both fixing the RFID chip 110 and external sensor 104 and 106 as well as being a good thermal conductor. Both the RFID chip 110 and sensors 104 and 106 will be in DIE form or other packaging with good thermal conductivity. The thermal connection to the sensor 106 could be made through e.g. a perforated area in e.g. a PET substrate, which could be filled with the thermally conductive glue used to fix the thermal conductor 120 to the sensor 106.

The transition 132 from the antenna radiating element 134 on the top layer of the sensor implementation to the connection of the RFID chip 110 in the single sensor approach, or the folding of the substrate around 122 illustrated in Fig. 7 and 8, enables the combination of two features; good range performance in an antenna placed on conducting or absorbing surfaces, and good thermal contact between the sensor 114, 104 and 106 and the measured medium. The transition from the antenna radiating element 134 to the lower layer of the sensor implementation in the single sensor approach is optimally shaped as a planar cut of a sphere, or as an arc, where the RFID chip 110 is located at the centre bottom of this shape. The bottom centre of the shape is located at one of the on the lowest layer in the sensor implementation 100, while the antenna radiating element 134 connected to the outer edge of this shape is located at the second layer from the top, directly under the print layer 140. The substrate comprising the antenna radiating element 134 and the shaped transition 132 and the connected RFID chip 110 is one piece, assembled on e.g. a flexible PET substrate or similar, and shaped during production. The RFID chip 110 is typically glued to the substrate, using an electrically conductive glue.

The area between the bottom of the shaped transition 132 and the top layer is filled with an insulating material 160 in order to reduce the effect from ambient temperature, and loss of heat from the measured surface. Such insulating material 160 can be e.g. closed cell polyethylene foam or similar materials. In addition, the reflective layer in the antenna structure 138, can be of e.g. metallized BoPET (Biaxial ly-oriented polyethylene terephthalate) or similar insulating material in order to reduce the loss of heat from the measured surface. Both insulating techniques in combination with the thermal conductor 120 will help reduce the time for temperature equilibrium for the temperature sensor 114 or 104. This is achieved as the insulator 160 will reduce the thermal conductivity between the sensor 114 or 104 and the ambient conditions, The metal sheet insulator 138 in the antenna 130 will reduce the thermal conductivity for the whole surface area covered by the sensor implementation 100, while the thermal conductor 120 will increase the thermal conductivity to the surface of the medium being measured.

In the Doppler sensor approach, the substrate 180, which can be e.g. a flexible PET substrate, can be assembled as one piece in production, similar to the single sensor approach, but different as the external temperature sensor 106 is located far away from the RFID chip 110. An approach for the substrate in the Doppler sensing approach, can be produce it two times the size of the sensor implementation 100, connect the external sensor 106 using connection wires 182 routed through a cut out or keep out area of the antenna are 135, and with a feature to fold it around a material 122, which serves as the antenna spacer between the metallic reflector 138 and the antenna radiating element 134, and as an insulator reducing heat loss from the surface, features known electromagnetic properties and a known heat transfer coefficient, the material can e.g. be optimized for a more compact antenna design 130, or as a good insulator. Both the thermal conductor 120, insulating material 122 and insulator 160, both in the single and Doppler sensing approach, will have known thermal properties, and the sensor data from 104 or 114 and 106 in combination with the ambient sensor data from the reader 200, an algorithm and signal processing system 370 can estimate the organisms true core temperature from its surface temperature, applying known compensation techniques from literature, e.g. medical literature for human core temperature estimation. Ambient conditions can be detected by the ambient sensors 270 in the reader 200, before it effects the sensor 1 14 or 104, and as the effects from ambient to the sensor 104 or 114 in the sensor implementation 100 is known, this effect can be compensated for in the signal processing algorithm system 370.

The single sensor signal processing algorithm system 370 measures the surface temperature of the organism, e.g. the skin temperature of a human, and uses known compensation techniques like wet/dry bulb compensation techniques for moisture e.g. a constantly defined difference between surface and core temperature, combined a temperature leakage compensation to ambient conditions using sensor information from the sensor 270 in the reader 200. The Doppler sensing approach utilizes two sensors 114 and 106 and calculates the core temperature 520 by calculating the heat flow from the core through the tissue and skin 515, using the difference between the two sensors readings and the known heat transfer coefficient 123 of the material 122 in between to calculate the heat flow through the material 124. The following equation can be a central part of such calculation when used to e.g. calculate the core temperature of humans, shown in Fig. 9:

Equation 1 :

Where:

Tc: The core temperature

TA: The temperature of sensor A 106

TB: The temperature of sensor B 114

ΦqcA: Heat flow between core and skin 515

ΦqAB- Heat flow between sensor A 106 and sensor B 114

hA: Heat transfer coefficient 51 0 of the tissue/skin

hΒ: Heat transfer coefficient 123 of the insulating material 122

The reason for the sensor implementation 100 structure: Utilizing known data on heat transfer coefficient of the organism e.g. human body’s skin/tissue, an optimized and known thermal conductivity between the skin and the sensor 106 and 114 and 104 in single sensor mode, a known heat transfer coefficient 123 of the insulating material 122 and a known thermal conductivity to the ambient conditions in the sensing environment, an algorithm can be applied to predict the organisms core temperature with high accuracy. The combination of antenna design, shapes to connect the RFID chip in the single sensor approach, and folding in the Doppler approach, thermal connection to the sensor, and insulation to the ambient conditions maintains an optimal combination of antenna and sensor performance for long range continuous and passive RFID sensor applications of surface temperature and core temperature estimation in organisms.

The lower layer: The bottom layer located on the same layer as the thermal connection to the measured medium, will be an adhesive layer 150 with e.g. hypoallergenic properties that does not cause any harm to the organism it is applied on.

The top layer: The top layer will be a printable layer for artwork. This layer will be a thin layer of a material causing no effect to the antenna performance, like thin paper.

The Reader 200 is designed as a portal to the ecosystem for the RFID sensor implementation 100. The design can comprise a RFID reader chip 210, a processing unit 230, internal storage 240, internal sensors 270, wired interfaces 250, antenna for wireless network interfaces 260, and RFID antenna 220 and if the sensor 270 is an air quality and/or temperature sensor, an air flow design for the sensor 280. The reader 200 reads the sensor implementation through a custom read plan, where e.g. RFID chips 110 in sensor implementations require several time units, which can be ms to accumulate enough power to perform sensing using the internal sensor 114 and/or external sensors 104 and/or 106 and communicate e.g. the appropriate sensor information, calibration data, ID and other information to the reader 200. Further the reader 200 and read plan is customized in such a way that it is less power consuming, duty cycling communication to the sensor implementation 100 and hence its measurement frequency, and the communication interval to the ecosystem 300, allowing the reader system to sleep cyclically. Through this implementation and the known features of UHF RFID technology, allowing more than 1000 chips to be read each second, the known signal processing technique of oversampling can be applied to increase resolution and reduce noise in temperature measurements, which change slowly compared to the possible read rate, hence increasing temperature measurement accuracy of the sensors, which following can increase the accuracy of the core temperature calculation. The standard wireless and wired network communication protocols and methods implemented in the reader 200 can work as a single main channel for communication to the ecosystem 300, and e.g. comprise backup systems in case the main communication fails. Further the reader 200 can comprise backup storage to use in case main communication channel fails temporarily, and/or the backup communication channel fails temporarily. The reader 200 may also comprise methods in e.g. hardware or software for encryption of data being communicated to the ecosystem. Through the network connections to the reader 200 e.g. through IP addresses, it can record it current geolocation to the ecosystem for purposes which can be e.g. setting the mode of operation due to regulatory requirements, location and tracking epidemic and non-epidemic illnesses in the society, looking up local environment conditions which can be temperature, humidity and barometric pressure. Further the reader design comprises an air flow design 280, separating the ambient sensors 270 from effects caused by e.g. heating of air inside of reader 200 or dry air inside of reader 200, ensuring a more correct sensing of ambient conditions.

The ecosystem 300 can be designed to e.g. store data on products 330, sensor readings 320 and users 310, as well as comprise signal processing algorithm methods 370, with an implemented algorithm e.g. as described in Equation 1 and a processing unit 360, running the signal processing algorithm methods 370, on the sensor data, using the e.g. equation 1 to calculate the core temperature of the e.g. human being. Further the ecosystem 300 can comprise different interfaces for the user side 350 and big data side 340. Such ecosystem 300 can be implemented as e.g. a network cloud solution or on any other device or unit. The ecosystem 300 can be designed to store the unique ID of all products designed and produced to be a part of the ecosystem 300, which can be e.g. sensor implementations, readers and other devices, limiting counterfeit products to compromise the e.g. user experience and/or quality and usability of the sensor data. In such ecosystem 300 the interface for users 350 could easily limit individual users’ access to data, to be the data generated by the user’s products only. And the interface for big data could easily limit the data not to comprise user identifiable data, which can be e.g. e-mail addresses, names, notes, images and similar. Further the ecosystem could by storing all unique product IDs in a database, limit operation time of products, to ensure the quality of readings is not compromised by e.g. sensors being used over a long period and e.g. causing faulty data due to reduced thermal connection with the surface of the organism.

The end user device 400 comprises an interface designed as an e.g. web interface, app on a smart device or other. This interface 422 can e.g. present real time data from an ongoing measurement, and set and adjust notifications based on the change of this data over time. Such notifications can be e.g. high fever alerts, or high fever over a long period for humans with a febrile condition. Alerts based on other sensors, like an accelerometer 104, where a fever seizure alarm can be triggered by the body movements during seizure. History of data e.g. short term or long term and former individual measurements could be accessed through the interface 422. The end user device 420 could comprise a storage unit 424, which could be used to e.g. temporarily store data in case a back up communication solution to the reader is active, and/or there is no connection to the ecosystem 300 or data history or external storage. Further the user interface 422 could comprise an fever reducing drug administration registration feature, which could comprise a timestamp and which could be a simple graphical button in a graphical user interface, and which could support registration of the actual drug including amount and brand, which could be implemented as a software correlating camera input from e.g. a smart device used to scan a optically readable product code on such drug packaging and correlate such information to public drug databases. Such information on fever reducing drug administration could then be used in e.g. correlation with the sensor data to explain e.g. unexpected changes over time and the amount of drug administration to a e.g. a medical doctor when measuring human fever data.

Alternative Embodiments

A number of variations on the above can be envisaged, for instance using an antenna 130 in the wireless senor implementation, where the antenna radiating element 134 is designed to operate on the surface of the organism e.g. human skin, and not in air. Moving an antenna structure from a material with one dielectric property to another, e.g. from air to human skin, will affect the way the antenna operates by changing the antennas resonant frequency. Hence an antenna designed to work in air will not work well when placed on human skin. By knowing the dielectric properties of the material which the antenna will be placed on, an antenna can be designed to have the correct resonant frequency when placed on e.g. human skin.

Another variation can be implementing the wireless sensor system in a different substrate material and shape, designed to be used on in different ways on an organism. For a human this can be e.g. a contact lens or an earplug, earring or other jewellery, or implemented in shoes and clothing fabric.

Another variation of this could be a wireless senor implementation using multiple radio protocols and standards, allowing a wider range of use and operating ranges. This can e.g. be multi RFID radio protocols, a combination between RFID and other radio protocols, or multiple other radio protocols.

Industrial Applicability

The invention according to the application finds use in continuous monitoring of core temperature of an organism.

Claims

Claims

1 . A wireless sensor system (100) for continuous readout of a temperature of an organism, comprising: a contact surface for attaching to a surface of the organism, a sensor in thermal contact with the contact surface, a RFID chip operatively connected to the sensor, wherein the RFID chip is arranged to respond to an induced signal from a reader by reading data from the sensor and transmit said data.
2. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the system is encapsulated in a resilient material while the contact surface is exposed.
3. The system according to claim 1 wherein the contact surface is coated with an adhesive layer.
4. The system according to claim 2, wherein the system further comprises an antenna (130) located on a side separated from and substantially opposite to the contact surface using a resilient material, wherein the distance between the antenna and the contact surface provides an antenna gain.
5. The system according to claim 2, wherein the system further comprises an antenna (139) located on the contact surface, wherein the antenna having a resonant frequency is tuned to operate on the surface of an organism by shifting the resonant frequency of the antenna.
6. The system according to claim 2, wherein the system further comprises an antenna (130), comprising a radiating element (134) located on a side separated from and substantially opposite to a metallic reflector (138), which is spaced apart by a material (136), where the dimension of the material (134) defines the space between the radiating element (134) and the reflector (138) and the antenna gain by the electromagnetic properties of such spacing material (136) and the radiating efficiency of the radiating element (134). (optimal configuration)
7. The system according to claim 1 , further comprising a second sensor for measuring at least one property from the group comprising temperature, pressure, flow, level, proximity, displacement, bio, image, gas, chemical, acceleration, orientation, humidity, moisture, force and mass.
8. The system according to claim 7, comprising 2 or more of the same

sensor.
9. The system according to claim 8, wherein the sensors work together to detect Doppler information and differences in sensor data between the sensors.
10. The system according to claim 1 , further comprising a positional detector.
11. A method for operating a first sensor according to claim 1 further comprising a second sensor according to claim 7, wherein the data from the first sensor is compensated for environmental effects using comprising the second sensor, thus forming compensated data.
12. The method according to claim 11 , wherein an alarm is raised when the compensated data from the sensor is outside a predefined range.
13. The method according to claim 11 , wherein an alarm is raised when the data from the second sensor is outside a predefined range.